Concerts

It’s become a tradition around here. Every week, on Monday — the worst of all days — we bring you our Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix this week. You know, to help make it all bearable. Dig in, kiddos…

The Roots @ McDowell Mountain Music Festival at Margret T. Hance Park|3/23/13About an hour into their dominating set, the legendary Roots crew pulled out a trick few other bands could get away with: Drummer Questlove and percussionist Frank Knuckles did a drum solo. An extended one. It’s always been my…

It’s gonna be an action-packed weekend for Brannon Kleinlein. The 38-year-old will be busy overseeing the locals-only side stage at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival at Margaret T. Hance Park. It’s certainly a major task that he’ll have to juggle along with this weekend’s debut of his new downtown Phoenix…

The Shins @ McDowell Mountain Music Festival at Margret T. Hance Park|3/22/13It’s been 10 years since McDowell Mountain Music fest got started, and nine since Natalie Portman, as the prototypical “manic pixie dream girl” stated that The Shins would “change your life.” In that time, McDowell Mountain Music fest has…

Mos Def/Yasiin Bey @ Celebrity Theatre|3/21/13It’s clear that Yasiin Bey (a.k.a. Mos Def) is one of the most likable guys in hip-hop history. The 39-year-old rapper is most known for his critically acclaimed album Black on Both Sides, as well as his work with fellow New York MC Talib Kweli…

If the flu virus is a filament-filled spiky sphere, I wonder what the electronic synth bug looks like. By the sounds of things, Charles Barth of two-man group Saddles is the latest in a long line of musicians to be infected by the bug. His recently released single, “The Original”…

Who’s excited for the Instagram pictures Questlove is going to post of Phoenix this weekend? I sure am. The Roots will be in town on Saturday, March 23, to play as part of McDowell Mountain Music Festival, plus, Questo will be dropping a DJ set at Bar Smith afterward. That’s…

Hate is a strong word, but as a music critic, my musical beliefs and ideals have been forged over many years of writing about, reviewing, and listening to music. I know what I like, what I can tolerate, and what I’d just as soon leave behind forever. Country artist Kenny…

Merchandise, Body of Light, Audacity, Nü Sensae, Wet Hair @ Meat Market Garment Factory|3/19/13Rampage Fest concluded its two-day run with an after-party that featured a lineup that stacked solidly against that of the actual festival. It was a diverse mixture of bands, which although initially proved overwhelming, became a strong…

Joe Ely @ Rhythm Room|3/19/13Surprisingly, there were only two cowboy shirts in Rhythm Room last night, that paltry number growing to three once Joe Ely took the stage. Strange for an artist with deep West Texas country roots, but it only serves to highlight Ely’s musical appeal that crosses genre…

Timberlake-style audacity aside, it takes some serious stones to open an album with a six-minute-plus slow-burning anthem. But that’s what Erika Wennerstrom does with “Marathon,” the opening track of her Texas-via-Ohio band Heartless Bastards’ 2012 opus, Arrow. See also: -Questlove of The Roots Is So Much Better at Instagram Than…

Of all the stupid things we do with our phones, Instagram might be the worst. Not only has the app falsely convinced us all we’re professional photographers, but it’s done something even worse: It’s encouraged our worst vainglorious tendencies. No one is Amaro-toning his or her real life. There are…

Marco TorresSomebody somewhere really did not want us to see Smashing Pumpkins at SXSW.Security and Cops Gettin’ Wild: Look, I get it. Every drunken dickhead in town “knows someone” or thinks he has pull at the door, but that doesn’t mean the hammer goes down on everyone. I was stopped…

This year, Rocks Off and DC-9 at Night, the music blogs at our sister papers Houston Press and Dallas Observer, teamed up to bring you only the choicest moments from last week’s SXSW madness. Craig HlavatyJohn Fogerty: Creedence Clearwater Revival survivor John Fogerty gets overlooked as a riff-happy rocker, with…

Jacob KatelWelcome to RavetopiaBy Jacob Katel Society got the best of ya? Go to Ultra Music Festival and leave the normal world behind. Here, you can feel free to get half-naked, customize your brain, and put some neon in your life. Deep inside the endless well of bass, you just…

Flogging Molly @ Tempe Beach Park| 3/17/13I could hardly contain my excitement as I boarded the light rail last night. It wasn’t my first time or anything, but I remember how insane last year’s St. Patrick’s Day experience was: Coming home from Seamus McCaffrey’s and making a brief stop at…

It’s Monday, and that means that the rotting corpse of the weekend has been trampled on and desecrated by another dadgum work week. But never fear — the resistance is growing. You can re-create the carefree feelings of the weekend every night this week by attending our Top Five Must-See…

We’re pretty sick of reporting it, but seriously, Morrissey’s upcoming Friday, April, 19, show at Marquee Theatre has been canceled. The past TWO TIMES he’s postponed his tour stop in Tempe, fans were told to hang on to their tickets, because the show would be rescheduled. Well, not anymore: The…

Photo by Liz TracyBy Liz Tracy They danced. They rolled. They yelled: Glitter! Yes, these are ten talkative fashionistas of Ultra Music Festival 2013. Certainly, there were some better dressed, and others more sensibly garbed. But the following folks found during night one of 2013’s three-day shit fest — they…

Photos by Marco TorresSwag is rampant again at SXSW this year.For every insightful conversation I have heard or had at SXSW over the years, whether it was talking to Matt Pinfield while walking the streets of Austin talking about David Bowie, or telling The Clash’s Mick Jones that he was…

By Victor Gonzalez We found Molly. And if we’re ever at an electronic dance music festival in Brazil, we’ll know to keep an eye out for balas. Similarly, next time we’re in Ecuador and someone offers us pepas, we’ll know they’re taking about MDMA, at least according to Ultra Music…

Photo by George Martinez What’s the most epic come-on in the history of Scandinavian EDM? Duh. “We’re gonna fuck this party in the pussy!,” as uttered by Swedish House Mafia, when Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, and Axwell were still young, up-and-coming electronic dance music studs. Today, though, the SHM dudes…